Bob Costas and NBC broke up because of concussions

Costas was scheduled to host his last NFL game at Super Bowl Sunday last year, but months before the Eagles raced for the Patriots on February 4, 2018, the famous sports reporter was removed from the show and set the stage for the end of his 40-year career NBC.

Costas – which has hosted almost every imaginable sporting event from the Olympics to the Kentucky Derby – has had a significant impact on the NFL's role in the concussion crisis in the past. But the remarks he made a year ago at a journalism symposium had gone too far for his bosses.

"I think the words were" you've crossed the line, "Costas said to ESPN's" Outside the Lines. "And my thought was, which line did I cross?"

In 2017, Costas told a crowd at the University of Maryland, "The reality is that this game is destroying people's brains – not for everyone, but a considerable number." It's not a small number, it's a considerable number their brains. "

The comments quickly became viral, causing NBC to make a statement stating that Costas's opinions were his own and did not represent the views of NBC Sports. Costas also went to CNN at the time, "to make it clear that he does not criticize NBC," according to the ESPN report. NBC pulled him out of the Super Bowl LII anyway, Costas said.

An NFL spokesman told ESPN that the league had not asked to pull Costas off the air.

Costas also told ESPN that an essay he wrote in 2015 in connection with the release of the film "Concussion" was killed by NBC Sports because the network was in negotiations with the NFL to broadcast Thursday Night Football. "Concussion" is a sports drama about the doctor who discovered the connection between CTE and head trauma and the NFL's efforts to discredit its research. Costas wanted to use the release of the film to tackle the problem on national television.

"It was a natural introduction," Costas told ESPN. "I thought the movie was going to make an impression, and I thought this was a way NBC would not only acknowledge it, but also to get out of it."

This detail underscores the overwhelming influence the NFL has on its television partners. In a highly fragmented television landscape, the NFL is the largest rating Juggernaut. Networks pay the League billions of dollars for the right to broadcast their games. Even as ratings went down in recent seasons, NFL games were among the most watched events on television. The regular season of NFL viewers rose by 5% year-on-year in 2018, attracting an average of 15.8 million viewers.

"You see, the NFL is not only the most important sports object, but the most important building on American television," Costas told ESPN. "And it's not even close."

NBC and Costas quietly ended their decade-long partnership earlier this year. NBC made a statement on the ESPN report.

"Historically, we have given our commentators plenty of room to talk about issues and controversy, and Bob has benefited most from this policy," said an NBC spokesman for CNN Business. "We are very disappointed that after 40 years with NBC, he has decided to misclassify and share these private interactions after his departure."